Gibbons coach: ‘It’s absurd’ for NCHSAA to release football playoff pairings on a Monday
Appearing on the Talking Preps OT streaming show Wednesday night, Cardinal Gibbons coach Steven Wright expressed frustration with a plan by the N.C. High School Athletic Association to release its football playoff pairings later than usual.
The pairings normally come out the Saturday before the playoffs begin.
Right now, the plan is likely to release them by noon on Monday, Nov. 3. The first round begins Friday, Nov. 7.
“To me, it is absolutely mind-blowing,” Wright said on Talking Preps OT. “To think they’re going to tell us, ‘Listen, we’ll release brackets officially Monday at noon,’ and expect us to be prepared for Monday afternoon practice is absolutely absurd. I can’t even comprehend it. There cannot be somebody in that room making decisions that has coached high school football in this state, or any other state for that matter.”
In the past, the state has usually put out pairings on a Saturday afternoon. That gave teams time to share film, study opponents and have a game plan ready for practice on Monday.
The big issue is that there are four additional playoff brackets this year, since schools voted to go from four to eight classifications, and that will complicate the playoff selection process.
Adding to the complexity is that on Saturday, Nov. 1 — the day that would usually be football selection Saturday — the NCHSAA is hosting state championship events for boys’ and girls’ cross-country, dual-team tennis and volleyball. If all four sports have eight classifications, which is possible, that would mean 32 state championships will be awarded.
It will be a busy day.
NCHSAA spokesperson Brandon Moree provided The Observer with a statement from the association about the seeding issue. Moree’s statement also said the NCHSAA is continuing to explore other possibilities to potentially move football seedings back.
“We understand that this timeline shortens the preparation period for first-round playoff games and recognize the challenge this presents for coaching staffs,” the statement reads. “This scheduling decision was necessary to accommodate the two-day championship events for volleyball, cross-country, and women’s tennis. It is a priority that the other state championships that will occur that weekend have full staff participation and presence. Managing these multi-sport championships, a result of our expansion to eight classifications, requires a carefully coordinated calendar in an effort to be respectful of the NCHSAA Staff relative to post-season expectations.”
The N.C. Coaches Association released a statement via social media this week, saying it had discussed options to avoid a Monday football release.
“The NCHSAA is aware of the reasons for opposing that (Monday release) plan,” the statement reads. “However, key staffing requirements to cover three sports state championships and do the football seeding the same weekend is problematic with the increased number of state championships in most sports. To suggest that former staff and retired football coaches do the seeding is also problematic because they could not access all the data and would not be available for or able to answer the ensuing questions/complaints which always arise.”
Wright believes that with the new playoff format going into effect this year, most teams would know where they slot into the playoff bracket on Friday night.
He is hopeful that the NCHSAA will be able to find a way to get the pairings out Saturday as normal. He worries that a coach could get fired because his team doesn’t play well, in part because of lack of preparation, due to the later-than-normal seeding process.
“They’re robbing us of almost 48 hours of prep work that typically goes into practice on a Monday as we install a game plan for an opponent we’re going to play on Friday,” Wright said. “The amount of planning that goes into a football game on a Friday night goes beyond what most people fully comprehend, and to rob us of a week of prep when we need to play as good as we can possibly play in a first-round game on a Friday night is just absolutely absurd to me.
“My hope is that somebody there does right thing and says, ‘You know what, we’ll take the extra hour it’ll take us on a Friday night or Saturday morning and we’ll put brackets out. These brackets are essentially set Friday night.”
Note: Tap here to watch the full Talking Preps OT show with Steven Wright; and watch Talking Preps Week 7 preview show here
